‘They called our name’: Manitoba cheesemaker wins gold medal

A Steinbach cheesemaker brought home three medals, including gold, at a North American contest. CTV’s Harrison Shin reports.

Not one, not two, but three.

A Manitoba cheesemaker brought three medals of honour home.

Fabiola Della Pria, a local cheese maker and owner of Unique Brazilian Dairy, participated in the American Cheese Society Conference recently. In the Spanish/Portuguese fresh cheese category, Della Pria won first place.

“All the way from Mexico to here—we are the best fresh (Spanish/Portuguese) cheese,” Della Pria explained the meaning.

“We also won third place for the best grilling cheese of North America for the Spanish category, and then (third place) best seasoned spread as well.”

Her excitement was through the roof.

“This category—I think close to 30 different cheeses of the very special kind (competed). So, we won over everybody.

“It’s very, very nice to have a title like that.”

The continuous calling of her name in the ceremony was surreal for Della Pria.

“I was shaking from the first place, and then I was hearing my name from the other ones because the categories were very close together.

“I was like, ‘We won again!’ and then we won again. We won three out of the four submissions we sent.”

Paolo De Luca, co-owner of De Luca’s—Della Pria’s distributor—saw it coming.

“It’s very versatile, so a lot of restaurants are using it on their dishes, on their plates—really promoting local.

“(I was) super excited when she won the gold medal in North America, which is amazing.”

With the winnings, Della Pria eyes expansion.

“We’re actually in talks to send this to Vancouver and Quebec right now. So soon, Quebecois and Vancouverites will be able to try our cheese as well,” Della Pria said.

She said she couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help.

“Angie and Jim Appleby of Stoney Brook Creamery—best people in the world. They helped me to start the business. The University of Manitoba also helped us to develop the cheeses in the dairy plant nursery they have at the university.

“This (list) just goes on, but especially thank you to my family, who now has a cheese maker that makes cheese until two in the morning,” Della Pria said.

Della Pria’s cheese can be found at multiple locations in Manitoba, such as De Luca’s and Stoney Brook Creamery. For week two of Folklorama, her products will also be available at the Brazilian pavilion.